The present invention relates to IC test equipment with which it is possible to test IC elements of various terminal configurations.
FIG. 1 schematically shows the construction of conventional IC test equipment. Reference numeral 100 indicates an input magazine stocker, in which are housed a number of magazines 101 each carrying IC elements to be tested. The magazines 101 housed in the magazine stocker 100 are brought up, one at a time, by lift means to an IC element feed position, where the magazine 101 is held aslant forwardly by a magazine support means 103 and is engaged at its forward end with an IC element supply port 104 of the test equipment. Then, the IC elements 105 loaded on the magazine 101 slide down therefrom by their own weight and they are fed one by one, by an escape mechanism 106, into a distributor 107.
The distributor 107 distributes the IC elements 105 fed thereinto on one of several IC element guide rail to, for example, eight IC elements guide rails. That is, the IC test equipment has 8 to 36 IC elements rails disposed in parallel so that a number of IC elements can be tested simultaneously in a test station 108. By the distributor 107 the IC elements 105 discharged from the magazine 101 are distributed to the plurality of IC element guide rails.
The distributor 107 mostly lies inside a constant temperature oven 109. The constant temperature oven 109 is so designed that test temperatures can freely be set within a range of between -30.degree. and +125.degree.. Preheating station 111 is provided downstream of the distributor 107. The preheating station 111 has heating means and heat absorbing means in IC element guide rails, by which the temperature of each IC element guide rail is raised or lowered to the temperature of the constant temperature oven 109 so that the temperature of each IC element 105 to be fed to the test station may quickly approach the temperature of the constant temperature oven 109. Disposed downstream of the preheating station 111 is a diverter or reorienter 112, by which each IC element 105 is turned from its inclined position to drop down to a vertical guide rail 113.
The test station 108 includes, for example, eight such vertical guide rails 113 and 32 (=8.times.4) IC sockets, and hence is constructed so that 32 IC elements can be tested at one time. The IC elements 105, after being tested, are reoriented by a diverter 114 into a forwardly inclined disposition and discharged into a sorter 115. The sorter 115 sorts the IC elements 105 according to the results of the tests performed at the test station 108. The IC elements 105 thus sorted are discharged into the magazines 101 supported by an output magazine support 116.
When filled with IC elements to capacity, the magazines 101 supported by the output magazine support 116 are brought up by a lift and loaded into an output magazine stocker 117. At the same time, empty magazines are loaded on the output magazine support 116.
In the conventional IC test equipment the IC elements 105 are received in an inverted or upside down disposition in the magazine 101 held by the input magazine support means 103 and slide down therefrom in such an upside down inverted configuration, with their terminal pins held upright. FIGS. 2 through 6 show inverted configurations of various IC elements sliding into the magazine 101.
FIG. 2 shows the inverted sliding disposition of an IC element having DIP type terminal pins. In this case, a slit-like window 101A made in the magazine 101 faces downward. FIG. 3 shows the case of an IC element having SOJ type terminal pins, FIG. 4 the case of an IC elements having SOP type terminal pins and FIGS. 5 and 6 the case of an IC element having ZIP type terminal pins. In FIGS. 5 and 6 the direction of the window 101A is determined depending on which side of the body of the IC element bears its name. FIGS. 7 and 8 shown the cases where the ZIP type IC element slides on its one side.
The IC elements 105 discharged in the upside down, inverted, configuration from the input side slide into the output magazine support station 116 from the testing station 108. The IC elements 105 which pass through the output magazine support station 116 are turned upside down when they are loaded into the magazine 101 held at the output magazine support station 116. The reason the IC elements are fed in the inverted disposition on the input side is that they are rarely caught by guide rails irrespective of the type of their terminal pins. Thus, the IC test equipment of this kind employs an arrangement in which the IC elements are fed in the inverted disposition at least the input side.
In the conventional IC test equipment the IC elements slide in the inverted configuration in both of the input side and the output side. Consequently, the slit-like window 101A of the magazine 101 (see FIGS. 2 through 6) held at the output magazine support station 116, in particular, faces downward or sideways; so that a label indicating the name or grade of the IC element loaded on the magazine 101 cannot be seen through the window 110A. The slit-like window 101A is provided primarily for reading the label from the outside. Hence, it is particularly inconvenient to load inverted IC elements into the magazine 101 at the output side, because magazines loaded on the output magazine stocker 117 are all held in the state in which the names or grades of the IC elements received therein cannot be seen.